Discover Civil may | Page 37

We see them at almost every site. It is the most versatile and popular equipment of our industry. In this edition we will go through its evolution and have a shallow review about the product. s soon as you see them, your mind says, “JCB”. Isn’t it? Actually they are Backhoe Loaders. JCB is to backhoe what Xerox is to photocopy. Since early Backhoes were manufactured by JCB itself the brand name stuck with the equipment and a majority still calls it JCB. Backhoe loaders are among the most versatile types of heavy equipment available today. They are known by many different names all over the world; the term digger, backhoe, excavator backhoe, or retrocargadora all refer to the same equipment. They are used for a number of different jobs and are often the only piece of heavy equipment at a construction site due to its versatility. Many references incorrectly say that the first backhoe was developed by the JCB Company in 1954 or by Case Corporation in 1957, the true development of the backhoe actually began in 1947 by the inventors that started the Wain-Roy Corporation of Hubbardston, Massachusetts. In 1947 Wain-Roy Corporation developed and tested the first actual backhoes. In April of 1948 Wain-Roy Corporation sold the very first all hydraulic backhoes, mounted to a Ford Model 8N tractor, to the Connecticut Light and Power Company for the sum of $7